I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the control of automatic transmissions with discrete or continuously variable ratios. They apply to all types of automatic or automated transmissions with discrete or continuously variable ratios.
When these transmissions have an automatic control mode and a manual control mode, the invention relates only to the automatic mode. The subject of the invention is the management of actions by the driver in automatic mode, and, to this end, it constitutes a method for adjusting the ratios of an automatic transmission, as opposed to the facilities for genuinely exiting from the automatic mode by the driver, when he wants to take full charge of the control of speed shifts, as in a manual transmission.
II. Description of Related Art
When a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission has two transmission control arms on, or near, the steering wheel, the driver can, in theory, use these control arms (instead of a conventional control lever), to control up- or down-shifts in a so-called “pulsed manual control” mode.
According to the usual provision in the art, the driver must initially choose the option to exit from the automatic mode by setting a lever or knob to the appropriate position. He can then control up- and down-shifts by successive presses on the (+) arm and on the (−) arm. In these conditions, if the driver has chosen to exit from the automatic mode for the manual mode, he has taken control of the changes of ratio, until deliberately initiating a return to automatic mode, which he does by returning the lever or knob to the appropriate position.
With this known control principle, if the driver forgets to return to the automatic mode after temporarily wishing to take control of the changes of ratio, he remains, despite himself, in manual mode.